Guatemala adoption
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The current laws in Guatemala allow private adoptions like in the United States. This type of adoption is also the most popular way of adopting from Guatemala. In 2006 4,135 children[1] were adopted from Guatemala, most of them via private adoptions. In these cases the adoptions are usually handled by attorneys who represent the adoptive parents and handle all the necessary paperwork in Guatemala. Technically a different attorney represents the child that is being adopted. In many cases the adoptive parents may not have any direct contact with their attorney in Guatemala since they are usually represented by a middle man or an adoption agency in their home country. Private adoptions are basically a contract between the biological parent and the adoptive parents stating that the biological parent relinquishes all rights to the child and allows to adoptive parents to adopt the child. To prevent irregularities biological parents have to be interviewed by a social worker at the so called Family Court. Thereafter Guatemala's Attorney General's office, also called PGN (ProcuradurÃa General de la Nación[2]), scrutinizes all available documents before allowing the adoption process to be finalized. If the adoptive parents reside in the United States, the stringent rules of the US embassy in Guatemala have to be followed before the adopted child can receive an immigration visa to enter the USA. These rules include two DNA test to ensure the person who relinquishes the child is the child's parent. The first DNA test has to be performed before the file enters PGN. The US embassy has an agreement with PGN that no adoptions for US residence can be approved before a DNA test has proven the child's identity. The second test will be performed after PGN to prevent a child swap during the adoption process. After PGN gives it's approval to the adoption the biological parent of the child needs to sign off one last time on the relinquishment. After that the child is by Guatemalan law the child of the adoptive parents. Following a new birth certificate will be issued by the municipality where the child was born. The new birth certificate states the adoptive parents as father and mother of the child. At the same time a second DNA test will be performed. With this new birth certificate a passport will be issued for the child and the paperwork will be submitted to the US embassy again in cases where the adoptive parents live in the USA. The embassy scrutinizes the paperwork again and eventually issues an immigration visa to the adopted child. The time frame for adoption from Guatemala varies greatly. It depends on many factors such as political climate and the quality of the adoption professionals that handle the paperwork. When the political climate was positive or indifferent towards adoptions from Guatemala some cases were processed in less than 3 months. In the current political climate there are many administrative obstacles. Cases that are being processed in less than 6 months are currently exceptional. Some cases may one year or longer from start to completion.
The private adoption system in Guatemala is currently under large criticism from organizations such as UNICEF. These organizations lobby for a so called 'adoption reform' in Guatemala and in the United States. UNICEF wants adoptions to be handled completely by government institutions[3]. Unfortunately these so called reforms have caused a complete shut down of international adoptions in other counties that have implemented these reforms. The governments of these, often third world countries, are usually not capable of implementing efficient adoption processes with the result that foreign adoptions completely cease. This condemns many children, who would have had the chance of finding a caring home in a foreign country, to live in underfunded orphanages or on the streets.
